2 Iraqi educators scheduled to study how Smith College teaches engineering next year

NORTHAMPTON - Smith College plans to host two female Iraqi educators next year as part of a national program to promote engineering among women in Iraq.

Iman Haider Mohammed, an assistant lecturer of engineering at Nahrain University, and Nafal Jamil A-Bawary, an assistant lecturer of engineering at the University of Duhok, will attend classes, collaborate on research with Smith engineering faculty and work with senior design clinic teams on their projects as they get a feel for how engineering is taught at Smith.

Professor Linda E. Jones, director of Smith's Picker Engineering Program, said women from throughout Iraq applied for the slots in the only accredited engineering program at an all-women's college in the United States.

"At Smith College we have a reputation for doing unique things in advancing education," Jones said. "They will basically be watching how we teach."

The hope is that visiting educators such as Mohammed and A-Bawary will play a crucial role in encouraging Iraqi women to pursue professions in science. Although some Americans associate repression of women with Muslim countries, Jones said Iraq has a long tradition of women in higher education. Many women were taken out of universities near the end of Saddam Hussein's rule, however, and the country is trying to rebuild its tradition, Jones said.

Other institutions joining Smith in inaugurating the program, which is sponsored by U.S.-based Iraqi Women's Fellowship Foundation, are Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of California at San Diego. Each of those schools will host a single Iraqi faculty member during the 2009-2010 school year.

Although Iraqi women comprise more than half of Iraq's population, they make up just 34 percent of the student body and 23 percent of the work force. The Iraqi Women's Fellowship Foundation is offering 60 fellowships during the next five years to help Iraqi women advance in higher education. The visiting faculty at Smith are among the first recipients.

Jones said that Ford Hall, the college's new $73 million science center on Green Street, will open in August, shortly after the visiting Iraqi educators arrive. Smith has also received a $1 million grant from the Branta Foundation to buy state-of-the-art science equipment.

"They will be getting a snapshot of a very contemporary engineering program," she said.

While the goal of the program is to enlist the skills of women in rebuilding Iraq, Jones said Smith and its students will also benefit.

"Just having these women here will be very important for our students," she said.